The James Altucher Show

If you're reading this, you probably don't know the name Stephen Tobolowsky. But I'll give you some hints. Ned Ryerson. (From "Groundhog Day") Jack Barker. (From "Silicon Valley") Sound familiar? Stephen Tobolowsky is one of the main characters and actors in one of my favorite TV Shows, Silicon Valley. He also plays the MOST annoying character in Groundhog Day. He's been in 200 movies and a thousand other things including Seinfeld, Thelma & Louise, Heroes and the list goes on. But he did something weird. He wrote a book. And when I read it I thought, "who the hell is this guy?" There are only two ways someone could write this book..." My Adventures with God". ONE: If they were incredibly broken as a human being somewhere in their lives and then they climbed back out of that hole by thinking all these intense and philosophical thoughts. TWO: They were just born this way... I still haven't figured out which one. I have to admit I didn't understand parts of Stephen's book. And not because it was bad, (I loved it), but because I had to stop and think. His thoughts are so valuable and I really wanted to know what they meant. I was pretty happy he was able to come on my podcast. He taught me that we're all writing and choosing our narratives to some extent... "Well I think on a personal level, we all end up developing narratives," Stephen said, "Either it's instinct or sometimes it's choice. I think we live in the dark so much of the time that we need metaphors to find our way. And I believe having a philosophy is only useful if it helps you see in the dark." So I asked him how do we begin to take control of our own narratives? Because we to some extent, I can't just surrender to the narratives that has  been  given to me. That takes away my freedom and ability to reinvent. Stephen told me this, "We're all living on borrowed time." This podcast shows you a window into a man's desire to connect with the deeper meaning on time and what it means to be alive. Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/12/stephen-tobolowsky/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I wish I could take everything Ray Dalio said and turn it into a book. But he already did that. It's called, "Principles: Life and Work." And I'm going to be re-reading it for the rest of my life. He defines principles as "ways of successfully dealing with reality to get what you want out of life." And he's revealing how he used these principles to build BridgeWater Associates, (which manages $150 BILLION in assets. Globally.) He told me story after story. How he went broke. How he started over. How he built a community within the walls of business. How he wrote his book. Love his family, teaches his students, learns from life... "I think you're faced with choices. Those are the times that test your values..." "Being successful is hard," he said. "But it's a lot harder to live a life you don't want." Then he said, "habit is the main controller of all of us." And (for me) it all came down to one formula: He said, "Dreams + reality + determination = a successful life."   Show Notes: Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio Ray founded Bridgewater Associates, LP, a hedge fund that manages $150 billion in global investments. Listen to Ray's TED Talk   "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" by Charles Duhigg (And you can listen to my interview with Charles - Ep. 161 - Charles Duhigg: Be Smarter, Faster, Better... And Most of All Be Free  Also check out this video from Ray if you want to learn more about economics.   Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts: iTunes Stitcher iHeart Radio Spotify   Follow me on Social Media: Twitter Facebook Linkedin Instagram   ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You may remember Amy, she came on my podcast a few weeks ago. We discussed her book, "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do." I asked her why is it a book about what people DON'T do instead of SHOULD do. It seemed counterintuitive to me. But her reasoning made sense. The book wasn't written for other people. It was actually just a letter to herself at first. And then she put it online. And it became viral... that led to a book deal. The podcast was really popular. But I feel like you didn't get the full story... Amy's not just an author, therapist, social worker/mentally strong person. She's also an entrepreneur. She was making money in her sleep... "I've always had some sort of a side hustle usually something fun or strange," she said. I knew immediately I needed to have her back on the show. I wanted her to  share this with my listeners. Because these are "choose yourself" ideas. Simple, easy to execute, and anyone can do it.   "I had a friend who had a jewelry store," Amy said, "so I knew the markup on jewelry was incredible, like 200 hundred or 300 hundred percent." And she knew jewelry was fairly inexpensive to ship because it didn't weigh anything. Over the years she and her husband thought about how they could turn this into something they could monetize. And finally they did it. I asked so many questions about how she pulled the trigger. And got the courage. I wanted to know how she made this business work. I also gave her ideas about how she could scale. I really believe this: anyone who listens to this podcast can start doing their own side hustle right now. "Over time it went from a few dollars to a few hundred and then before I knew it we were up to a few $1,000  dollars a month." You could quit your job I told her. "That was the dream," she said. You can read my show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/12/amy-morin-2/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I got a call from my friend Mike Van Cleave a year ago. He told me had cancer. We hadn't spoken for years. "It's like mold in your refrigerator," he said. "All of a sudden you're like, 'What the hell happened? It's only been a week."   You never know who's going to call you out of the blue someday with cancer. It's scary, but luckily we don't live with these thoughts in our minds. We only think of ourselves. "Will I get cancer?" And that's important. These selfish thoughts keep us alive. I've always admired my friend Mike. I felt honored to have him on this podcast. He told me the science of his cancer (thyroid cancer) and the ways he's surviving every day. I'll take emotional pain over physical any day. So my bones can keep typing. "Do you have pain in your bones?" I asked him. He did. And it went away. "I have no bone pain right now. So there's a very good chance that all the bone metastasis is working," he said. That takes away 80% of the "badness". He spoke casually. And sometimes I laughed inappropriately. I guess I was scared. In 18 months, his medicine will stop working. The cancer will keep growing again. And he'll be on a new drug. He told me about the success rate of his next drug (only 50% of people are helped and it only helps for 6 months). "What's the best case scenario?" I asked. I cried afterwards. Not in front on him. Not there... But later, when I was alone with my fear, I cried for hope. He's down to his second to last drug. The second to last hope. Unless they create a new medicine... "We're look at a maximum of three years," I said... "What happens next?" "Honestly, really bad things happen," he said. Then he told me, "All of a sudden there was meaning... The desire to connect with meaning overwhelmed the time I had for the meaningless. In some ways, you can't understand it. And the one thing I've come to understand completely is there's only one thing in your life that matters and that's the quality of your relationships. It's such a cliche. You can look back at thousands of quotes from people who are old and dying and they always talk about the people in their lives. Nobody cares how much money you have when you die." I stayed silent. I wanted to catch all his words. And learn from them. "Most of the things we sit around worrying about, you realize, at this stage, has no meaning. Now, it's important. Maybe. Ya know, it's important that I have a job, but the job itself only has the importance that you place in it." I hope this podcast is a special moment for you like it was for me. I took it as a chance to step back from my life. And the problems I think about over and over again. This interview allowed me to care for a friend. And I hope it lets you care for a stranger. That's something I want to do a little bit more each day. Until the day is full with selfless thoughts between selfish thoughts. Maybe that's part of the medicine. Make sure to read the full show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/12/mike-van-cleave/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I don't know where to begin. I'm a fan of Scott. I think he reminds me of someone I went to highschool with. He was bright and always cursing at the right time. I remember laughing. Because I felt close to being free. But he was the one with the ability to put himself in the middle of controversy. That's something I (still) can't do. He'd say eff this or eff that. Part of me felt compelled to egg him on. But he didn't need it. He was comfortable being cynical and right. Scott Galloway does this with business. I watch his weekly  "Winners & Losers" videos where he tells you things like "Brands are dying" and "Amazon will be broken up" Then he'll dress up like Spock and I'll lose my mind. I get these videos emailed to my phone. And I'm also subscribed to his YouTube channel. He came on my podcast to talk about his new book, "The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google." But we also talked about his past: creating and selling companies. Being on the board of The New York Times, wanting to salvage the newspaper industry (his idea back then was brilliant). "I got laughed out of the room," he said. "What was your idea?" "That the stupidest thing we did is buy into this bullshit lie that 'information wants to be free.'" He's right. I remember the beginning on the internet. We gave information  away... And now they're profiting off us. Scott called it "the hot girl effect" "Everybody wants to hang out with the hot girl," he said. "So, to say you're doing a deal with Google made you feel younger and more interesting." They said "information wants to free." So deals were made. He told me exactly how he would've turned it around. And I felt like I was listening to the possibility of new reality. That's what Scott Galloway brings to the table. Beyond strategy or analysis. Beyond brilliance, he brings possibility. And teaches you that it's not over. "The Four" are winning. But I told Scott nobody really cares. Nobody cares which one of these companies "wins." I'm interested in is learning how to win too. I want to know HOW Amazon, Apple, Facebook & Google became influential. And disruptive. So I can be influential and disruptive, too. Scott said all Fortune 500 CEO's have one thing in common... or at least "450 of them have one thing in common." They're likable. "Even the ones that are psychopaths?" I said. "Yeah..." He explained: "During the day these people are Darwin and Darth Vader, make no mistake about it. They play full body contact business and they make very brutal decisions. They dominate markets. They put companies out of business. And they don't put warning labels on your iPad even though your kid has a crack-like addiction to the thing." He called them "wolves in sheeps clothing." Zuckerberg, Jobs, Bezos, Page, Brin. But then he told me the principles they standby... There's five in total. And we go through them all on this podcast.  You can read my show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/12/scott-galloway/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dennis Woodside left Google, for DropBox. Everyone thought he was crazy. DropBox was this little tiny company. What was he thinking? "So you ask why I would go from Google to Dropbox. Just play the movie forward. Where's it going to be in ten years? It's logical to me that the company that pioneered this notion of putting your files in the cloud is going to have all kind of opportunities and going to solve problems for everybody in the world. A lot of people don't think that way. They think very linearly. That's how we're taught as kids. That's how you're taught in college." (And that's how Dennis was taught to think in law school. But he got out of that rut. More on that later...) "You have to rewire your brain a bit," he said. You have to ask yourself, "What trends do I understand to be true?" And "If I extrapolate that trend to its logical conclusion, what does the world look like?" That's what Dennis did. And that's how he found Google. And later, Dropbox. He said Google was tiny when he first joined. "What year?" "2003" There were only a thousand employees. "When I joined Google everybody thought I was crazy because it was a little tiny company," he said, "but I felt one of the most exciting things you can do with a career in Silicon Valley is to help grow a company. And be there early... There's a lot of uncertainty. And competition is really hard. You have to figure everything out. That's the hardest part, but the most rewarding." Dennis is now the COO of DropBox. How did he go from lost lawyer to a leader in Silicon Valley? I wanted to know. "Ultimately, I realized I wasn't going to be a great lawyer," Dennis said. This is where his career path changed from one end of the spectrum to the other. He reinvented. He learned a whole new set of skills. And he adapted to an ever changing digital world. Most people are thinking about the next ten days, Dennis is thinking about the next ten years. He saw DropBox as a pioneer. And is vision paid off. DropBox is one of the fastest growing companies maybe ever. And there are billions of people who are signing up every month. I wanted to learn how to cultivate that same skill. The one that lets you have a vision. And believe in it. Make sure to read the full show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/12/dennis-woodside/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I sat down with two women the other day. And I can't decide whether they've completely ruined my life or helped me. I decided they were going to help me decide before this podcast was over. Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider are the authors of the classic book, "The Rules". I know this book inside and out. Every woman I ever dated back in the 90's and early 00's read "The Rules" AND were following them. I felt like I was talking to them on behalf of every single person I've ever dated. (And every man who's ever been frustrated by a woman they've dated.) "The Rules" tell women how to date and WHO to date. But more than that, it teaches you to have self respect. How to bring the center of gravity back to yourself. And stop outsourcing your self-esteem to some other human or some idea of being with that human. I've been married twice. I told Ellen and Sherrie about both of my marriages, but I kept something things private, too. I told them I'm going to give their books to my daughters. I want them to read it. "But I don't know if I want my future girlfriend to read it," I said. Maybe that's because I'm a little lost. And I want her (whoever she is) to be a little lost with me. Make sure to read the full show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/11/ellen-fein-sherrie-schneider/  And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I asked Frank Shamrock, a living legend MMA fighter, "How many titles have you won?" "I think I won them all." He calls himself a "super athlete." So I told him he lacks humility... And we laughed. But he's right. He IS a super athlete. He evolved the art form. And went one level deeper than any opponent. He didn't just say "how do I crush this person?" He said "How is the body working? What is this machine? How can I use it optimize my performance?" "I was studying the biomechanics," Frank said. "And how to maximize it... everyone else studied technical fighting." But he wasn't always a fighter. He found the sport in jail. He was 11. He left home and learned "crime was a tool to change your situation and protect you," Frank said. His parents were abusing him. "I was an emotional basket case," he said. "I couldn't hold anything together for more than a few days, no sport, no activities I would just fall apart." He escaped through crime. " I actually threw rocks at a train and in California, that's a felony. I went and did ten days in juvenile hall." It was his first time away from his "family." His abusers... He was hanging out with all the other kids in juvie. So he started to ask questions. "How do you deal with x, y and z." He listed out all the abuse. They looked at him shocked and confused. And asked him repeatedly, "What are you talking about?" "You don't get locked in the closet till they get home?"  he asked. They couldn't believe what they were hearing.   That's when this small 11-year-old realized he had to get out. "When things didn't work out, I knew what to do: commit a crime, go back to juvenile hall, see my friends..." The cycle didn't stop. He turned 17. Committed another crime and went to prison for 3 and a half years. "Because I was married and an emancipated minor, anything that I did illegally was charged as an adult." THIS was Frank's wake up call. It all fell on him. He had ruined his life. He had 20 felonies, no education, and a baby to support. "I know what the bottom is like," he said. "I know what it's like to have zero. You can always build up. But it starts by changing your mind and taking action."   This is a story about the making of a legend. It's the story of a criminal turned champion. I want to take these lessons and apply them to my own life. I realized I don't have to fight, but I can at least live with the mindset of a fighter. Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/11/frank-shamrock/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Anthony holds a lot of weird records. But the most interesting to me is the record for the biggest span between winning golds. SIXTEEN YEARS.    But first, let's start from the beginning. Anthony Ervin always had a gift for swimming. He had the talent. He had the coaching. And he had the success from an early age. But there was something else looming. Tourette's. I asked him how it happened. "What was the first things you noticed about yourself when you developed Tourette's?" "It was debilitating," he said. "I felt a lot of nervous energy running through the body and that energy needs to find an exit." It escaped through his eyes, his jaw, his neck. "It took a long time cause originally you want to fight this. You want to imprison this energy just to make it stop. But my eventual tactic for it was to take that energy and move it through my entire body. Specifically to move it into my swimming," Anthony said.   He used it as a weapon. He turned a negative into a positive. And it ultimately led to success in swimming. He first went to the Olympics when he was only nineteen. He won gold. But he wasn't ready for the mantel of responsibility that came with winning.   "I quickly fell off the mountain," Anthony said.    He battled with depression and addiction. He dropped out of college. He stopped competing. He self-medicated. And he kept this secret inside. He forgot all about his athletic success.   I really wanted to understand why. What is the catalyst for a comeback? In this podcast, Anthony Ervin, 3 time Olympic gold medalist reveals how he did it...   Make sure to read the full show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/11/anthony-ervin/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We've become too comfortable. We're innovating less and watching Netflix more. When I think of a "complacent class," (a group of people who don't care to move forward or move at all), I think of this: Americans soaking high wages off the backs of more aggressive global economies. I picture us eating delivered food, never moving, only using the remote. And having drones deliver everything we need. I had to ask Tyler Cowen about this. He's a personal computer that's going to answer all my economic questions. He knows all about the "complacent class." Because he wrote the book on it. It's called, "The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream". "Look at it this way," he said. "We've had these incredible advances in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We take fossil fuels and powerful machines and combine them to do everything you can imagine (cars, airplanes, electricity, radios, televisions). We've had incredible booms spread to the middle class. Spread to the poor. We've done that. Now we're waiting for the next wave of big things." I have an idea of what the next big wave could be... I've written about it before. And I've interviewed the experts. But I wanted to know, will we be successful? "We're kind of running a race," Tyler said. "Will the next wave of innovations and productivity come before our debts do us in? Right now to me, it's looking like the answers no." What Tyler said next scared me. "America is losing its dynamism." But Tyler makes two distinctions here. The future is built on A) Innovation and B) PRODUCTIVITY. It's the persistence to do. I still feel we're trying to hit the frontier. We're exploring space. Improving biotech. Creating countless innovations. But is this progress coming from is only the 1%? Are the rest of us just sitting around? Waiting for the benefits? I wanted to hear the worst case scenario. I don't know why. Maybe sometimes fear pulls me in. It's like following a narrow path of light in a dark cave. I'm not interested in the dark. I'm following the light. But what he said next is a scary thought to consider... "The worst case scenario is that America's allies realize we cannot make good on all of our commitments. So they start fighting more amongst themselves. Trusting us less. Maybe building their own nuclear weapons. The fiscal position of the United States government becomes more and more cramped. We stop being credible. The quality of our governance continues to decline. And, both internationally and at home, we have a mess with warfare and partial collapse of international order. And here we have a return of something like the 1970s with high unemployment, high inflation and stagflation," Tyler says. So then what is our future? What can we depend on? In this podcast, I ask Tyler and he shows me how we can create a dynamic future... How we can keep reaching for the frontier. Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the show notes here: https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/11/tyler-cowen/ And don't forget to subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.